With the continuing reliance on fossil fuels and other consumable products to provide the energy requirements for modern society and to provide a high the standard of living as is required by modern society, it is readily apparent that current energy and fuel resources will soon be depleted.
Further to this, with traditional energy sources relying upon the burning and combustion of coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels, the by-product of such fossil fuels contributes greatly to pollution and green-house gas emissions. Whilst the full extent of the effect of green-house gas emissions is currently under debate, science supports that excess emissions can have an effect on climate change.
A variety of alternative energy sources have been proposed to reduce the reliance on society of traditional fossil fuels for their energy needs. Such alternative energy sources have been directed at harnessing wind power, solar energy and wave and tidal energy, as well as a variety of other natural occurring energy sources.
A variety of buoyancy motors have also been proposed to utilise the natural buoyancy of floats in water as well as the effect of gravity on such floats, whereby the motion of the floats under buoyancy forces and gravity can be converted to generate power. However, most such devices have not proven commercially successful as they typically have poor sealing properties to isolate water within the system, which reduces the ability of the floats to travel from a water filled environment to an air filled environment to provide an enclosed working environment.
The present invention is directed towards providing an improved energy generation devices that provides a working environment in which a plurality of buoyant members can be controlled to move under the forces of buoyancy and gravity with such movement being harnessed to generate power.
The above references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the above prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but assists in the understanding of the inventive step of the present invention of which the identification of pertinent prior art proposals is but one part.